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Some developments start with an elaborate story

The long, expensive process has nothing to do with counter tops or square footage.

By S.I. ROSENBAUM
Published December 2, 2005

BRANDON - There were 35 members of Newland Communities' development team and a skunk.

The skunk was there as a consultant. Technically, the consultant was Jack Hanna, the star of Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures. But the skunk was the star.

"He brought in a skunk to teach about nature," regional marketing director Vaike O'Grady said. "We need to make people get out of their house and into the woods a little more."

For development companies like Newland, it's no longer enough to build a bunch of houses, name them something bucolic - Maple Run, perhaps, or Brookside - and sell them off.

These days, even before it's built, a development has to have an aesthetic. A mission statement. A set of core values.

When Newland began developing its projected community of Waterset in Apollo Beach, the company spent about $100,000 - the equivalent of an advertising campaign budget - on an "envisioning" session.

Newland officials say the process is worth the cost.

"Storytelling is at the heart of marketing," O'Grady said. "Once you understand what the story is, you have a compelling story to share with customers. . . . We felt it was worth the investment to take the brain time to think that through."

She added, "You can't sell homes at $1.5-million in Apollo Beach unless you create a vision."

For Waterset, creating a vision started with research into the past of Apollo Beach.

"We love to hear the stories of the kids playing in the creek and that kind of thing," engineer Scott Jones said. "These kinds of stories are where we really start to create the vision."

Then, the development team spent two days in a conference room brainstorming and listening to consultants.

As they talked, O'Grady said, an artist from South Carolina drew pictures to illustrate the points being made.

"It was like a visual impact of what the conversation was about," O'Grady said.

The process produced a seven-page "story line" that casts the history of Apollo Beach as a march of progress culminating in the creation of Waterset.

In the story line, Apollo Beach is depicted as being "only somewhat interested in . . . growth" until "the visionaries of MiraBay" (also designed by Newland Communities) "courageously" proposed a high-end waterfront development.

"The bet paid off. MiraBay delivered on the dream," the document says.

Waterset is described as the next logical progression: a "real town" of crisscrossing esplanades and walking paths, with every home within walking distance to a "gathering point" like a school or coffee shop.

"The broad strokes of a vision for this new community have been drawn and now await the artistry of each discipline to apply the midtones, fine lines and exuberant color to make it come to life," the document concludes.

Jones, one of Waterset's engineers, said the story line serves as a guide for every aspect of the community, which is still in its infancy.

"It helps you make decisions all the way down to the color of the buildings," he said.

For example, he said, picturing Waterset as a "walkable" and easily navigable town led designers to propose a web of interconnected streets leading to a central "esplanade" running the length of the community rather than the labyrinth of cul-de-sacs typical of earlier developments.

"We will resist the collective efforts to live a constricted private life that was built into traditional suburban planning," the "story line" states.

"The streets, sidewalks, parks, esplanade and waterways of our new town will be used by people walking, talking, standing, sitting, even drifting and floating."

"Story line" and "envisioning" are buzzwords developed by a consulting firm in Vancouver, Canada, called Envisioning & Storytelling, or E&S.

On its Web site, the firm promises to teach clients "emotion-based storytelling techniques" and "story management" by "impacting on all the senses."

Although the company does consulting for all kinds of clients, president Jake Chalmers said the firm has been bombarded by requests from development companies.

"Right now I can't come close to meeting the demand," he said.

Newland is a repeat customer. E&S has worked with Newland on six projects across the country, "envisioning manager" Tori Robertson said - including MiraBay.

In 2002, E&S founder Paul Smith told Professional Builder magazine that his company was helping MiraBay's designers sell more than just homes.

"This has nothing to do with marble counter tops or 2,800 square feet of living space vs. 3,000 square feet. It is about how people will experience the place you are about to create," he said. "We bring projects to the point that our clients no longer simply sell a community; they sell an experience."

More recently, E&S helped Newland plan its Bexley development in Pasco County.

For Bexley, the "envisioning" session was even more elaborate than for Waterset or MiraBay, O'Grady said. Consultants included a "futurist" from Los Angeles and, of course, Jack Hanna and his skunk.

Jody Turner, the futurist, said she was called in to help explain consumer trends in real estate.

"Trends are about feeding people, they are about feeding the internal culture of a company so that the product they create is energized with life and currentness," she said.

In this case, she said, "We know people are tired of not having a central location for interaction, that people are really about wellness and health . . . (Newland's) product has to have authenticity. It has to live up to what it says it does."

Newland president W. Don Whyte said that's exactly what the long, expensive process accomplishes.

"Instead of telling us exactly what to do, like a program, it tells us what things are important to the community," he said. "And then we can figure out how to make them real."

- S.I. Rosenbaum can be reached at 661-2442 or srosenbaum@sptimes.com

[Last modified December 1, 2005, 09:34:11]